Man ‘Worked To Death,’ Family Gets Benefits

The family of a man who died during a 14-hour shift is eligible to receive death benefits, a Pennsylvania court has ruled. Robert Dietz, a 48-year-old field maintenance worker for a municipal water department outside Philadelphia, died from a heart attack. Under the Pennsylvania Worker’s Compensation Act, the court found that his company is liable for working him to death. The state’s worker’s comp board had originally rejected Dietz’s claim, but a panel of Commonwealth Court judges overturned that ruling on appeal.